Category Archives: Social Business Blueprint

The 2015 State of Inbound report from Hubspot is out, and it’s not pretty if you’re looking at it from a sales perspective. The two biggest eye-openers being: Social selling is still more hype than reality. However, pockets exist where interest is on the rise — notably among executives… Prospecting is the most difficult step…

The rise and growth of content marketing has virtually transformed the way that businesses interact with their prospects, customers and clients online. It has changed the expectations of what type of information can and should be available from businesses and it has empowered the consumer. And for all of this, context has become a very…

The conversation often starts the same. They come up to me after I’ve just delivered a talk on getting serious about social media for their businesses. They’re incredibly excited about the possibilities of the scope and reach of it all, and they get it, they’re going all in. But then, it sours from there. I…

One of the very reasons that many businesses shy away from social media, or don’t go all in on social media, is exactly the reason why they should be. What I’m referring to here is that unsocial businesses do not have full control of the messages conveyed about the business. While this may seem scary…

Time — the number one obstacle small business owners face in online marketing, without fail. As someone who consults with dozens of business owners every week, here’s something to think about: You spend too much time on social media to be effective. Stop it. Now, notice I didn’t say to stop using social media. That…

2011 — they started to pop up everywhere, but do the numbers support that it was the year of the QR code? Perspective is all important here. I think it’s important to realize that a 6% response rate for a marketing piece can be looked at as a glowing success. Because it’s a single digit,…

Corporate types awkwardly struggle with social media ROI. That shows one thing – they just don’t get it…yet! What’s the ROI on telephones? Surely, a sales call has and will never work, right??? How about paper? Direct marketing pieces must be a bunch of noise and a waste. Why send people letters, aside from Santa,…